Second Time Around
by River9Noble
Summary: Stephanie Brown hasn't seen Batman since both of them came back from the supposed dead. Their reunion doesn't go exactly as she'd thought it would...


They haven't talked since they both came back from the supposed dead. One night, as Stephanie is swinging through the city as Batgirl, she looks up and sees the Dark Knight waiting for her on top of the next building, a dark silhouette against a darker sky.

Stephanie clicks her comm off as she approaches him. Some conversations definitely don't need Barbara listening in on the other end. He doesn't move as she walks up to him. Stephanie waits for him to say something, but he just stares at her in the dark.

They stand silent, inches from each other's face. "B?" Steph finally says.

"Don't _ever_ scare me like that again," Batman growls out at her. Steph's jaw drops open and she puts a hand on her hip.

"You're one to talk, B," she points out. He snorts, or maybe it's a chuckle. Stephanie can't tell. And she doesn't have time to analyze it because Batman is grabbing the back of her cowl and kissing her, and holy fuck, is he _kissing _her, his tongue penetrating deep inside her mouth and drawing out moans and Stephanie doesn't even know how her arms got around his neck, but she's keeping him locked to her like she's never going to let him go. Again. Not to death or out of her life or out of this - _this _\- whatever this is that he's just started.

And Bats is holding her just as tight, punishing her with his kiss for lying to him, for letting him think she was dead, for not kissing him like this years ago. Not that she wouldn't have, to be fair, but she was dating Tim back then and Bruce never once treated her like anything but a sidekick. And an often incompetent one, at that.

Stephanie doesn't mind at _all _how he's treating her now and slowly, slowly, the grief of leaving Gotham and lying to her friends start to subside. The grief of thinking she'd lost _him_ slowly fades away, too. The horror of being tortured before her apparent death, that doesn't fade, but Bruce is kissing apologies and comfort into her mouth and Stephanie is kissing him back forgiveness.

Barbara's voice crackles in her ear. "Batgirl, your heart rate is going up. What's the situation?" she asks.

"_Godammit_," Stephanie says with venom, breaking apart their moment. She clicks her comm back on. "I'm fine, Oracle. Just having some fun playing around up here." Batman hasn't let her go; he's still got an arm wrapped around her waist and in fact he's started nuzzling her neck, even though she doesn't really have any skin exposed thanks to her suit. But it's still giving her butterflies in her tummy.

"Copy that," Oracle says back. "Don't lose your focus, Batgirl."

"Copy," Steph growls out before clicking the comm off again. "She is bossier than you were," she complains to Bats, whose mouth is already on its way back to hers.

"Who do you think she learned it from?" he breaths over her lips in his dark, hard, Batman growl, but maybe there's a hint of humor in it and maybe Steph doesn't even care if there's not because he's back to kissing her again and Steph is feeling like she could float off the roof and not hit the ground.

"What is this, B?" she asks him finally when she's resting her head on his shoulder to catch her breath.

"What do you want it to be?" he asks her. Steph raises an eyebrow as she meets his eyes.

"Everything," she says, daring him. Knowing that it won't be, it can't be, that Bats isn't wired that way. But dammit, she _is_. And why shouldn't she have a real relationship and a real life? She's spent enough time being dead. Which apparently he's forgiven her for. If he was ever really angry; Stephanie suspects that he knew all along but that his guilt over her torture was keeping him away and giving her space.

Not that time and space have done much to heal her. It's not like she can go to a therapist and talk about being tortured by Black Mask. She's googled, sure, trauma skills for containment and managing flashbacks. Leslie did a lot of research, too, and consulted with some mental health professionals and tried to help her while they were in Africa.

But Stephanie isn't right. She's never going to be right, she thinks. And she's sick of hiding in the shadows. Whatever this is that Bruce wants, she'll be damned if she lets it live in the cover of darkness, too. She's lived without this, without him, without even a hint that a romance with Batman could be possible. She can walk away. She hopes.

Bats is looking at her intently. She can see him thinking behind his eyes, considering all the ways this could play out and, probably, the least amount that he can give without her turning her back on them tonight. Except what he says is -

"You have a date with Bruce Wayne tomorrow night at seven." Stephanie jerks a little bit in his arms. "I assume that's acceptable?" Batman asks her in his trademark sarcasm, with a raised eyebrow.

"You'd better not be late," Steph says tartly.

"I'll pass the message on," Bats says dryly.

"Good," Stephanie says, slowing slipping her arms off of his shoulders and backing out of their embrace. "You need my address?"

"No," Bats says, and Stephanie knows for sure there's a little chuckle there this time.

"Well," she says, getting ready to take off for another rooftop. "Tell Bruce I'll see him then."

"Tell Oracle to stop being so damn nosy. And to put an off-switch in your cowl's life meter," Bats says to her in a commanding growl that makes Stephanie shiver.

"I'll do that," she says, locking eyes with him one last time.

"Good," he says and Steph swallows because hot _damn._

"I'll see you tomorrow, B," she murmurs, feeling like she needs a cold shower. Or a hot masturbation session. But definitely to get this patrol over with as soon as possible.

"You'll see _Bruce Wayne_ tomorrow," Batman corrects her. He smirks. "You said you wanted everything."

"Who fucks better?" Stephanie asks him. Bats stills. His eyes are blazing so hot at Steph that she feels like he's going to scorch her suit off.

"I guess you'll find out," he tells her with a final smirk that makes Steph's panties wet. She licks her lips as he turns away from her and jumps off the building into the night.

"I guess I will," Steph whispers to herself with a pleased smile.

_The End_


End file.
